2010 Barolo Cannubi Boschis

It's always fascinating to taste at Sandrone, as the estate' re-releases provide a great opportunity to see the slight stylistic evolutions that have taken place over the years. To be sure, today's wines are fresher and more vibrant, and yet they retain that textural lushness that has made these wines so coveted. Luciano Sandrone describes 2016 as a year with slightly elevated yields and a long, protracted harvest. As for the wines, well, they are truly special.

Luciano Sandrone's 2010s are brilliant. No one has done a better job of bridging traditional and modern style than Sandrone, especially over the last few vintages. Today, these are very much middle of the road wines from a stylistic perspective, while quality has never been higher. The Sandrone Barolos are made with an approach that emphasizes fruit and intensity. In that sense, they are the equivalents to growers such as Claude Dugat or Leroy in Burgundy, to cite just two examples. The Sandrone Barolos are aged in 500-liter oak tonneau, about 15-20% new these days. The malos are done right after the alcoholic fermentations. Sandrone is among the first to bottle his Barolos, again a decision taken to preserve as much fruit and freshness as possible. Sandrone fans may want to take a look at this recent video where I discuss recent developments at this historic estate.

I have to admit that I was shocked when Luciano Sandrone told me that his ultimate dream is to make only a single Barolo. He considers his two Barolo bottlings to be at the same quality level but believes that Le Vigne is underrated. And he also noted that the great old classic Barolos were blends of disparate vineyards. Sandrone also has another dream: "to focus on the nebbiolo family and our library wines [he holds back 10% to 12% of his production of nebbiolo wines each vintage, releasing the nebbiolos six years later and the Barolos eight years later], not dolcetto and barbera."Sandrone described 2010 as "a classic year in a Burgundian style," which is pretty much the way I view this vintage. But his daughter Barbara, who handles the commercial side for the estate, so far finds the 2010s to be "rich and chunky." She believes that the 2009s are more Burgundian owing to their elegance. Sandrone noted that 2008, 2009 and 2010 all produced Barolos that are a bit lower in alcohol than previous years. He attributes this to more snow in the winter, which results in more humid soils and better water reserves to get the vines through dry weather during the summer.